After being called out by head coach Rick Tocchet on Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks responded in a big way on Monday night, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 thanks to a hat trick from Kiefer Sherwood.
Rick Tocchet's group will return to action tomorrow as they make their first-ever trip to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Hockey Club to being a short two-game stint away from Rogers Arena and it looks like some roster moves were in order this morning.
In a social media post this morning, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they've sent defenseman Mark Friedman and goaltender Arturs Silovs to the AHL's Abbotsford Canucks, while calling up forwards Linus Karlsson and Phil Di Giuseppe.
It's unclear at this time if this just a move to help the Canucks accrue cap space, as they've done all season, especially since now there's 14 forwards on the NHL roster.
The move to send Arturs Silovs down to the AHL likely signals that Kevin Lankinen is ready to return to the team after he missed the last two games due to an illness.
For Di Giuseppe and Karlsson, this is their first call-up to the National Hockey League this season and they both saw some time in Vancouver last season, especially the former, who skated in 51 games with the Canucks.
In four games this season for Abbotsford, Di Giuseppe has no points, two penalty minutes and is a minus-one, meanwhile Linus Karlsson has registered six points (five goals, one assist), four penalty minutes and is a plus-three in seven contests.
Puck drop for tomorrow's game against the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City is set for 7 pm PT and can be watched across Canada on Sportsnet Pacific and Sportsnet One.